Heroes: The Rise of Omnicorp

[LadyTevar]

"First, he wanted to find out what would happen," she answered, far more calmly than normal. "Second, I stopped projecting when he started flailing and shooting hailstones."

She left out the part about Hydro attacking her and Tachy first.

[Cynical Cat]

"You might have noticed that he's not fucking human!" said Blackheart savagely. "He's even less fucking human than I am. He has no idea that he's acting like a beligerent moron. You weren't defending Tachyon. Tachyon isn't even scratched! Your just lashing out because your pissed. You have powers that can kill and a life sentence hanging over your head! Get some fucking control and get it yesterday! "

[LadyTevar]

"As much as I deserve this, Blackheart," Li Na answered, still surprisingly calmly as shadows crawled across the patio to corral puddles of Hydro and keep them from vanishing down drains. "I'm a little busy trying to fix my mistake."

Shadow dams and canals appeared, attempting to connect the far-flung puddles back into a whole, as Li Na projected the most calming, happy emotions she could remember. Elias featured strongly in those, Garth as well. Blackheart, surprisingly, also brought forth a couple happy thoughts. Buying the house. Pulling of a theft the police -still- thought was an inside job after five years. Shiny happy people holding hands.

[rhoenix]

Staring in shock mid-sip of his coffee, Alexander looked around the room to where Hydro had suddenly become...quiescent? neutralized?

He heard the argument between Blackheart and Argent, and it rapidly became clear what had happened. He suddenly darkly wondered what the stories of these two men, Ghost and Saibot were, and whether their stories were in any way similar.

Still feeling some horror at what had just happened to Hydro, Alexander shook his head as he gathered up his laptop, cell phone, wallet and keys from his room, and walked carefully around the shadowy scoops trying to put Hydro back together. "All the king's forces, and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again," he said under his breath as he dodged the puddles on the way out of the house.

"I'll be back later. I have my cell phone on me," he said in passing in Blackheart and Argent's general direction as he walked out.

On his way out the door, he shook his head, still disgusted and somewhat horrified at the thought. One of the greatest scientific minds of the entire group, whether his body was dihydrogen oxide or not, and Argent had killed him for...what? Testing a scientifically-sound hypothesis that would have made Tachyon wet in the worst-case outcome?

It appeared that he would need his own workshop sooner, rather than later. Much sooner.

[General Havoc]

Initially at least, Argent's powers seemed to have no effect whatsoever. The shadows that danced and dipped around the dripping wet patio and surface of the grass collected shallow pools of water, but those very pools might as well have been drawn from a tap for all the indication that anything within them held the spark of life. Much of the remaining water had drained off into the lawn or gutter, and that which had not rippled softly in the light wind of the Oakland Hills, as oblivious to the feelings being beamed towards it as any other body of inanimate liquid.

It took time for that to change.

As Argent continued to focus the emotion however, slowly signs of life began to emerge from the puddles below, as the water began to bubble as if boiling or carbonated, though its temperature remained the same. Carefully at first, then with more gusto, the water began to slosh back and forth, folding over itself, generally animating more and further, before finally some magical threshold was reached, and the puddle on its own accord spilled out of the shadows onto the patio itself, reforming on its own accord into a semi-gelatinous mass of water, drawing up all the available free liquid into itself. Even so however, it was plain and clear that not everything was well. The mass of water was barely a third its original size, fluctuating wildly in coloration and temperature, and no tendril or other appendage did it form, indeed it barely seemed able to maintain the relatively simple shape it had, pulsing and swaying and deforming in the soft winds. Various gurgling sounds emitted from the water mass, but nothing intelligible, and it sat there momentarily like a beached jellyfish, as it slowly drew the water back from the ground, or such of the water as it could.

[LadyTevar]

Joy and Triumph from the Empath, as she managed to fix HumptyDumpty. "I think he lost some to the lawn..." she then sighed to no one in particular. "But we can fix that...."

The shadows once again slithered together into a scoop, sliding under the pint-sized Hydro and dumping the elemental straight into the pool. "That should do it...," Argent said as she turned around and walked back to Blackheart.

"*Now* you can punish me."

[General Havoc]

The pool rippled slightly as Argent dumped Hydro into it, and for a few moments, there was no sign of anything therein that was at all abnormal. And then the center of the pool swayed and seemed to stretch, and a mass of water literally rose up from it, like a lava lamp's wax floating up to the top of its glass. Full-sized now again, and shaped roughly as Hydro normally was, it did not make any effort to leave the pool, at least not immediately, but extended its usual tendril, turning it about several times, before fixating it on Argent.

And then it flash-froze.

The water darkened to the color of an ocean in a storm, and the tendril froze to solid ice like a glacial spike, crystals of ice running across the surface of the water, while below it remained liquid, albeit chilled. Slowly, the elemental glided across the surface of the water to the edge of the pool, and finally slithered out onto the ground, its surface plated in frozen sheets of ice, its tendril still aimed at Argent like a harpoon. It did not move forward or backwards, sitting there, bubbling and hissing like a boiling radiator, until finally it managed to put a few words together.

"What. Happened?"

It was not simple curiosity. The voice was low and growled like a distant tidal wave. Hydro was clearly not asking this question for the sake of gathering information, and the mass of water just below his frozen tendril churned as he asked, the icy spike staring down Argent. Still, the elemental was plainly unwilling to approach the Empath at all, and seemed torn between leaping at her throat and diving back into the pool.

[frigidmagi]

Blast moved in front of Argent and held his hands up placatingly. He could slam up his shields at the speed of thought after all.

"She slammed you with an emotional outburst. Now it wasn't cool, but neither was what you did. I think everyone should move to separate corners for a minute and take a few to calm down. Okay?" He said as calmly as he could managed.

[LadyTevar]

At that moment, Li Na could have kissed Blast for stepping in. He was going to get extra dessert at dinner tonight.

.... if Blackheart let her live long enough.

[Cynical Cat]

"Nice work," he said to Blast. "Behave, both of you. You have the power to kill people. Stop throwing it around carelessly. Hydro, do I have to explain why appearing to be about to kill someone can lead to some extremely ugly reactions and not to do that ever again?"

[General Havoc]

"I was not endeavoring to kill anyone."

Hydro sounded... well it was hard to tell if he was angry, afraid, stunned, confused or all of the above, to the extent of course that he could ever sound so. His voice was quivering beyond the point that it normally did, veering off into inhuman sounds that had nothing to do with the English language. He had to make a visible effort to produce the proper vibrations with which to speak, or rather to emit intelligible sounds, even while trying to figure out what to say.

"I... suspected... that the disruptions I have been experiencing were due to external sources, and wished to determine a causal link between them and Argent's stated difficulties controlling the paranormal abilities she was referencing." The words poured out in a torrent, as Hydro was far too upset to even try for layman's terms. "I feigned a boil and acted impetuously to trigger an emotional backlash and evaluate its effects upon my capacity for liquidic control. There was no actual danger involved."

Hydro paused as his frozen tendril and armor suddenly shattered and flash-melted, and his structure temporarily destabilized, sending him splashing to the ground. Moments later he recovered his control and reformed back into his standard configuration, minus the frozen ice.

"That was not a backlash reaction!" he stammered out, each word punctuated by the sound of ice cracking. "It was a... some... form of... I have no conception whatsoever of what it was, but it was no backlash. There was... imagery... I... I cannot even begin to analyze, but... but it was NOT a backlash reaction! Not in the slightest degree!"

By now the water elemental was completely out of sorts, no longer even attempting to manifest its tendril, its form sloshing back and forth as though threatening to burst again. Hydro was so upset that he had not even noticed repeating himself three times. He bubbled and boiled and emitted sounds that meant nothing before finally hammering out some kind of reply, clearly so confused by his own state that he barely knew what to say.

"You will... you will never initiate such an action in relation to my person ever again. Not for any reason whatsoever or else... I... shall... I shall... think of some manner of action to take in response that will encourage you to act otherwise!"

From the rather absurd nature of the threat he made, Hydro clearly had absolutely no idea what he was doing, nor what actions he ought to take. Still... it did not require the services of an empath to determine that the elemental was very upset.

[rhoenix]

Hearing Hydro's unmistakable voice from the back yard in the direction of the pool caused Alexander to stop on his way out the door. He turned his head and walked cautiously toward the back yard, listening on the conversation, and to Hydro being quite understandably upset.

He just shook his head as he leaned against the doorframe. He was privately very glad to be wrong about Hydro's untimely demise - but whatever had happened to him was nearly as bad, if his reactions were anything to go by.

Deciding to simply wait and listen for now, he set his laptop bag down by the armchair before leaning against the doorframe to the back yard once again.

[LadyTevar]

Argent was biting her lip and locking her empathy down as tightly as possible, because otherwise she'd have to laugh at Hydro. Which would be a bad thing, as it would be taken very badly. She was trying to be contrite and sorry for her actions, dammit. Not laughing her head off over Hydro's attempt at a threat.

She really should try to reach out and sooth Hydro. Then again, since he was still overreacting, she might hit him too hard again and he'd get too relaxed. Like a Stoner.

Do not laugh do not laugh.
Stoner Hydro! He makes his own Bong Water!
Do Not Laugh Do Not Laugh Merciful Buddha don't let me laugh!

[frigidmagi]

"Look you may not have trying to hurt anyone, but look at it from our side. You just declared you wanted to try an experiment and then lunged at Tac in a pretty threating manner. You can't do things like that and not get a negative action in response. Argent over reacted. She shouldn't have done that, but she wouldn't have done it, if you hadn't moved on Tac like that. Understand what I'm trying to say?" Blast said.

[rhoenix]

Though he was initially shocked and angry earlier when he thought Argent had so casually killed Hydro, seeing him so utterly mad did somewhat help him relax. Seeing Argent looking his way, he felt slightly guilty for thinking she'd killed Hydro, but still concerned.

He also wondered what she thought was so funny about Hydro being so concerned.

[Marcao]

He had to admit that he had been taken aback by the entire situation. One moment Li Na had pressed against him and he had relaxed comfortably against her and the next Hydro pulled his little stunt. He had not acted partly out of surprise. In the end, there had been no need. Li Na had been there, but it seemed as if she took things a little too far.

His eyes had widened when the water stopped moving and seemed lifeless, attention focusing more fully on Li Na as he considered what had occurred. Had Hydro perished? If so, Li Na had taken things too far. Before he could offer any words, Blackheart seemed to explode and he sighed.

Shit, here they go again. was the first thought that came to his head.

Still, could he argue against Blackheart this time? What had Li Na done. His attention lingered on Li Na to hear what sort of justification she would have and blinked when she spoke of fixing her mistake. Moments later, Hydro seemed to return and he breathed a sigh of relief. He did not want to have Hydro's death on Li Na's conscience. More importantly, he did not think that Li Na's and Blackheart's relationship could withstand it.

Blast moved between Li Na and Hydro and he smiled for a moment. Everyone was showing growth in some regards within the team, but it seemed that Blackheart's attention on the meta had not been misplaced. In the end, he decided that the best course of action was to support Blast's argument.

"Blast has a point Hydro. Argent overreacted yes, but it was a reaction to your actions. What you intended and what was perceived are two completely seperate things. The members of this team have experienced loss recently, some of us are a bit more defensive on the well being of the rest as a result. I am not excusing the misunderstanding that transpired here but simply trying to help you understand what are some of the factors involved. We do not live in a lab, you do not control all existing intervening variables. The next time that you consider an experiment try to keep that in mind." He said gently.

He felt no particular allegiance to the creature. It was a newcomer, unproven and untested. Still, Team Mirage would be foolish to turn away any sort of help. They were cut off. They were on their own, anyone or anything that could be of help in their goals was a potential valuable resource.

[LadyTevar]

With no visible pupils or whites, it was often hard to know exactly where Argent was looking at times. This was also something that she was going to have to get used to with Blackheart's new eyes, if he ever took the shades off again. But she stifled her laughter and tilted her head towards Tachyon to give him the slightest smile in silent thanks. Once again, he showed the restraint and wisdom that she was beginning to rely upon.

She was going to continue keeping her mouth shut and her empathy locked down until things died down more. It seemed the smartest thing to do for the moment. She still wondered what punishment Blackheart was going to hand out to her, because at this point, she felt she deserved it for that trick

[Cynical Cat]

"Hydro," said Blackheart, "when people are scared or threatened, they react to defend themselves. That you weren't going to hurt Tachyon doesn't matter because he didn't know it and I didn't know that and Argent didn't know that. What if Tachyon had responded to your apparent attack by trying to vaporize you. We don't know what you're thinking. We don't even know how you think. If someone thinks you're going to harm them then they will defend themselves or their friends however they can. So don't scare people."

[LadyTevar]

Argent waited for Blackheart to turn and give her a similar lecture.

[Dark Silver]

The people were unconcious.

Every one of them in the helicopter was passed out cold, but they still had good vital signs. A quick scan of his Ring showed no broken bones, but the scream of quickly fading psychic energy showed up when the Helmet scanners worked with the Ring.

"I don't know how to stop this..." he said to himself, shifting to look outside the copter, scanning in a wide arc. He spotted the next jump.

The rushing of people around him brought him back out for a moment, as a voice was directed at him, "Sir? SIR! Excuse me Sir! Adriana McClung, CBS news can you tell me..."

Her voice trailed off as he turned, profiled as he was now, his body presenting a 3/4 view.

The news....this would be bad...

If Mirage Team watched the news, and they saw him splattered over the air waves..... But his costume was different...aside from some coloration...

"Please step back Ma'am," He said, the modulator on his voice disguising it will enough, not making it threatening, but deeper, more reassuring, "We've a dangerous situation. Please seek immediate shelter."


"Sentinel to Overwatch," He hoped Ghost didn't mind the new codename - he didn't want to risk using their real names or their old code names, and Ghost could always choose a new one later. That would be a immediate tip off for Mirage Team, "Scan on the following frequencies, uploading now..."

He waited a moment, for the Helmet scanners to send the information for Ghost over the data link.

"Standard search grid, assist when possible. Two minute check ins."

He turned to the woman and her camera man, narrows his eyes behind the visor, and flew off, leaving a rapidly fading streak of blue in his wake...

"Was that one of the Guardians?" she asked the camera man, even as he continued rolling....

[Cynical Cat]

The speech didn't come. They never worked with Argent, regardless of the content, so he wasn't going to bother. New tactics.

[LadyTevar]

Argent waited. She could feel Blackheart was still angry and annoyed, despite his calm voice. Soon, he'd stop talking (almost literally over her head) to Hydro and start in on her.

[rhoenix]

Something about Hydro's state began to bother Alexander in the back of his mind. Suddenly it dawned on him, and he nonchalantly retrieved his laptop. Walking back to his previous place, he opened up a few programs in particular, and began working on a variable-focus lens as he listened to and half-paid attention to the others outside.

[Cynical Cat]

Blackheart got up and left, walking out the door and into the city. Time to find another internet cafe. It took a while, but he managed. A quick peak of his email gave him Taskmaster's message.

It was bullshit. The US government's various intelligence agencies hated each other. They didn't cooperate on creating clumsy cannon fodder meta agents to walk into Ultima and threaten to blow up city blocks. They tipped off Ultima about that shit and ate the other guys budget when it comes out in Congress.

Then it hit him. There wasn't a coordinated effort. The various black agencies were in a state of war against each other and stomping all over Ultima in pursuit of their goals. Raising Cain might be supplying one or more factions, but there were different agendas being executed.

That made sense. And that made Ghost one of the players. He was in Ultima not only to watch Ultima and get whatever his bosses wanted, but to keep an eye on everyone else.

It was more important than ever that he get his hands on him. He checked his next email. A link to Herowatch.com and a shitty phone vid of two guys in Vegas. Some of the posters were comparing the costumes to Guardian Force and making wild guesses and others were ranting about conspiracy theories, but that didn't matter.

"Fuck," said Blackheart. Whoever was cowboying around in Vegas was clearly a beneficiary of Saibot's jail break. He would thank Christ that they were only saving civies instead of murdering metas, but he didn't pray to lower beings.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost did as instructed. Overwatch. Not the name he would have chosen, but it'd do for now. He started the search pattern, using the suit sensors for follow the damage and stopping to rescue people from wrecks.